"BLESSED ARE THE DEAD WHICH DIE IN THE LORD 
FROM HENCEFORTH, YEA, SAITH THE SPIRIT, - 
- THAT THEY MAY REST FROM THEIR LABORS.” 


2 
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IN MEMORIAM. 





MG UGrAT-AKIRKLAND. 


“BLESSED ARE THE DEAD WHICH DIE IN THE LORD 
FROM HENCEFORTH. YEA, SAITH THE SPIRIT, 
’ THAT THEY MAY REST FROM THEIR LABORS.” 





NEWBERRY, S. C:: . 
WALLACE, HOUSEAL & KINARD, BOOK AND JOB PRINTERS. 
. 1884. 





A SERMON 


—ON THE— 


OCCASION OF THE LAMENTED DEATH 


—OF THE— 


REV, JOSEPH GALLUCHAT;, 


OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 


PREACHED IN TRINITY CHAPEL, CHARLESTON, §&. 
C., MAY 1st, 1825, BY WILLIAM CAPERS, SENIOR 
PASTOR OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
IN CHARLESTON. 





— 


TO MRS, GALLUCHAT, 


As an humble token of the Author’s sympathy and best wishes, 
and a tribute to the cherished memory of a long known and 
always beloved friend, his first “Son in the Gospel’’, this ser- 
mon is most respectfully presented. 





John xi, 21: ‘‘Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not 
died.” 

When Lazarus was sick, his pious sisters sent for Jesus. 
That they were familiar with His benevolence towards “all 
sick people”, even to strangers and the unclean, might have 
been reason enough for this. Why should taey doubt that 
He who, in the case of the centurion’s servant, was so prompt 
to answer, “I will come and heal him,” would, when Laz- 
arus was sick, be at least as ready to relieve him also? 





4 IN MEMORIAM 


But, indeed this was no common case; and like the ocea- 
sion, the faith of these sisters, and the feelings which it 
inspired, must have been admirably peculiar. “It was that 
Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped His 
feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.” “Now, 
Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.” 

Happy are the sick whom Jesus loves! Happy are they 
whose care for the sick is solaced by the love of Jesus! And 
yet there was still more to bless the sick Lazarus and his 
sympathizing sisters Martha and Mary. To them Jesus was 
known, not only in that character of benevolence and love in 
which “He went about preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, 
and healing all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease 
among the people’*-not only as He was known to the blind 
and deaf and halt, the paralytic, the leprous, the demoniac, 
when at a word “He healed them of whatsoever disease they 
had”—not only as he was known to her who “followed him 
into Simon’s house, and washed his feet with tears, and wiped 
them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet”, when 
then he so graciously unburdened her soul, and announced 
the forgiveness of her sins; but to the faith of a disciple, and 
the sanctified affections which follow upon such a faith, there 
was superadded to Martha, and Mary, and Lazarus, the endear- 
ment of a friendship more exquisite and sublime than I can 
represent to you. Jesus himself had acknowledged it; and 
the whole college of Apostles knew it well. How sweetly is 
it signified in the message of the sisters—“He whom thou 
lovest is sick.” How kindly acknowledged by Christ—*Our 
friend Lazarus sleepeth.” How cordially concurred in by the 

Apostles—‘“‘Let us also go that we may die with him.” | 
And was the friend of Jesus sick? And did those whom — 
Jesus love suffer affliction? With what eager expectation 
must their confiding hearts have turned to “the Lord of life’— 
their friend! With what absolute reliance was the messenger 
dispatched with those few touching words, “He whom Thou 
lovest is sick.” Thy friend Lazarus is in pain, and but one 
word of Thine shall heal him! Lazarus is sick, and how 
anxious is that Martha, whose ardent, generous spirit was so 
stirred and troubled for Thy slightest comfort! Lazarus is 


REV. JOSEPH GALLUCHAT. 5 


sick, and the meek-hearted Mary, who wiped Thy feet with 
her hair, who could never be diverted from adoring Thee, sits 
all night long watching by his bed! 

Could they doubt of His coming? Or were they not 
rather occupied with rapturous thoughts of their brother 
healed, and their souls comforted? They might have reas- 
oned thus: We are utterly unworthy that our Lord should 
come under our roof. That He has deigned to do so again 
and again, and when our conscious hearts melted before Him 
in gratitude and love, has most kindly acknowledged us as 
His disciples, is altogether of His own grace. To Him we 
know no feeling other than love and adoration; and there is 
nothing which we would not do, nothing that we would not 
suffer, for Him. But, alas! what is the best and the utmost 
in our power compared to our obligations? “We are unprof- 
itable servants,” but it belongs to that benignity which we 
have so largely enjoyed to increase and abound according to 
its own nature. It is not favor at first that at last it might 
be repaid, but it is the same unmeasured bounty, always 
transcending by more and more as-it is embraced, and 
acknowledged, and improved. When the “great woman” of 
Shunem constrained the hungry prophet to eat bread, and 
prepared for him ‘‘a chamber on the wall”, it was but a small 
acknowledgment to the servant for his master’s sake—a little 
tithe of the bounties she had already received; but the 
prophet was forthwith inspired to promise to her in her old 
age the longing desire of her whole life—a son. And when, 
after the child was grown, he fell suddenly ill and died, and 
thé troubled mother carried to “the man of God” the tidings 
of her calamity, it was not reckoned that enough had been 
done for her, but the same mercy which had blessed her 
before now, redoubled its almighty grace, and her son was 
restored to life. 

So Martha and Mary. That Jesus could not but regard 
them with compassion—that He would most certainly mag- 
nify His love and mercy upon them, they could not be mis- 
taken. None ever can be, who shall love as they. But, alas 
for us! we are ever vexing ourselves by a mischievous care 
about particular events; as though the love of God could 


6 IN MEMORIAM 


not be exemplified except in those very instances which we, 
unwittingly, have judged best for us. Under any calamity, 
it is natural to look after the readiest way to be delivered 
from it. We hardly can believe that a “grievous affliction” 
may be requisite to the “fruits of righteousness”. We cannot 
be easily persuaded to embrace as a token of love that which 
defeats our plans and disappoints our hope. We would haye © 
the seed, and the bud, and the full-blown flower, to be of 
equal fragrance; or, brought to Marah in a time of thirst, we 
murmur, unconscious of the mysterious tree that makes the 
waters sweet and changes the bitter disappointment into a 
sacrament of life. 

The pious sisters of the friend of Jesus were not the less 
beloved because their message was received with silence. 
‘Jesus abode two days still in the same place where He was” 
—not because He was indifferent to their griefs, not that He 
was wanting of the tenderest, kindest compassion, not that 
He intended anything less than to bestow on them the hap- 
piest proofs of His love in the most salutary efforts of His 
power. If they were disappointed, it was only because they 
never had conceived of so much as He intended for them. 
They would have had a lesser benefit in a shorter time. 
They sought to be relieved at once from the affliction they 
were suffering, and the coming of Jesus to heal Lazarus was 
the only form in which they looked for the love of the 
Master. 

That He answered not at once, that He delayed at a dis- 
tance while Lazarus was ill and dying, and until after he was 
dead, may have been most mournfully mistaken. O, what did 
these anxious sisters think when their messenger returned to 
them with such sad words as these: I told Him all, but He 
answered nothing; He indeed looked compassionately, but 
“He abode there still”. 

But at last, when Lazarus had been dead four days, it was 
announced that Jesus was coming to Bethany. “Mary sat 
still in the house.” Her éonfiding faith, like that which ex- 
claims in Job, “though He slay me, yet will I trust Him”, 
had gained the ascendant of her sisterly affections. Subdued 
and tranquilized into perfect resignation, she had now dis- 


REV. JOSEPH GALLUCHAT. 7 
missed every other care than to “possess her soul in patience”, 
and to cultivate by the death of her brother the grace which 
should prepare her to live with him forever. Martha, too, 
was never more happy than in going to meet Jesus. Surely 
she comes up out of her affliction, as gold from the furnace. 
“Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died; but 
I know that even now, whatsoever Thou wilt ask of God, God 
will give it Thee.” Yes, afflicted, happy woman! Thy 
prayer, preferred in such a form as this—“whatsoever Thou 
wilt”, cannot but be answered, and the answer shall most likely 
be such as thou thyself wouldst desire. “Thy brother shall 
rise again.” 

My brethren, another friend of Jesus has been sick. An- 
other Lazarus is dead! 

O my heart! what shall console all these, his fellow-dis- 
ciples, Lis brothers, his sisters; alas! his children, his wife, 
who have come hither to-day, saying “let us also go that we 
may die with him.” Surely Lazarus himself was not more 
beloved! Could Lazarus himself have been more worthy ? 
“Jesus wepr!” O ye widow, children, brethren, kindred of 
the dear deceased, this altar shall sanctify your tears! Yes, 
we may weep, for Jesus wept! Our GALLUCHAT Is DEAD! 

Tis not his voice you hear. His voice, once so familiar 
from this holy place, shall plead with you and teach and 
comfort you no more. The House of God above is that he 
occupies. 

In all this large assembly is there one who knew him, and 
who did not love our brother? No, not one. And there are 
other thousands who embalm his memory with tears. 

He was not born among us, but kind Providence brought 
him, in early childhood, from St. Domingo to this city. His 
parents were of the Roman Church, and his early preposses- 
sions were in favor of that communion. His education, 
however, permitted free investigation, and when at twenty 
years of age it pleased God to call him by His grace, he 
united himself to that branch of Christ’s Church where he 
had felt the power of God, and in which, until so lately, he 
was an able minister of the New Testament. Upon this holy 
work he entered in his twenty-second year; and had con- 


8 IN MEMORIAM 


tinued in it about fifteen years, when it pleased God, on the 
8th day of April just past, to remove him to the Church tri- 
umphant. Of these fifteen vears, about eleven were employed 
in this city, with what admirable meekness and humility, 
zeal and unction, talent and industry, you all are witnesses. 
Truly, “there is a great man fallen this day in Israel.” ~ 

O ye unconverted, forget not how he reasoned with you “of 
righteousness, temperance and judgment to come”. How, as 
one who knew “the terrors of the Lord”, he persuaded you. 
With what heavenly pathos he poured out his whole heart to 
win you to the Savior. Alas! you are they who, of all in 
this assembly, should be most disconsolate. You loved the 
man, you revered the minister, and yet you did but contin- 
ually grieve him. If indeed his generous love could have 
been requited by your kindnesses, then many of you should 
be clear. But ah! not so. Hisardent charity knew no rever- 
sion to his own account. He loved you, and he sought you 
for yourselves. He beheld you, blinded by “the god of this 
world”, in love with sin and greedy of destruction. He 
would have plucked you from the burning ruin which he saw 
before you, but ye would not. That he loved you rendered 
your impenitency more severe, and that you esteemed and 
honored and revered him, and still repented not, aggravates 
your guilt. Ah, what sad tidings of you has he carried up 
to Heaven!: “All the day long he stretched out his hand to 
a gainsaying and disobedient people.” You heard his words, 
but you would not do them. To the man you showed much 
love, but hatred to his message. Alas! a time will come— 
you know it will—when you shall desire to see one of those 
days of his ministry among you, and shall not see it. O my 
friends, you alone are they whose interest in this solemn ser- 
vice is too sad for consolation! Most merciful God! though 
we cannot be comforted in this, though the whole ministry of 
Thy servant has passed away to our condemnation, take not 
Thy Holy Spirit from us. O Thou who hast proclaimed 
thyself “slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenting 
Thee of the evil’, show us still thy merey! Bless yet, good 
Lord, some other means to our salvation. 

Church of Christ! babes, young men and fathers, to you 


REY. JOSEPH GALLUCHAT. 9 


how endeared and how invaluable was this Man of God! 
Could ve ever hear him and forbear to bless him? When in 
“heaviness through manifold temptations” your soul was 
disquieted within you, who was it that so sweetly bade you 
“hope in God”? When you “walked in darkness and had no 
light”, who so kindly encouraged you to “trust in the name 
of the Lord, and stay upon thy God’? If then you followed 
him to his closet, how would he weep with your distress, 
and agonize in prayer for your deliverance; and when again 
“the candle of the Lord” shone brightly on your head, with 
what amiable charity did he rejoice! To speak unto you “to 
edification and exhortation and comfort”, both in public and 
in private, at the house of God and at your own homes, he 
was always ready. He knew his duty, and he loved it well. 
But he speaks no more. O, Church of Christ, he whom ye 
loved is dead ! 

Ye poor and friendless, ye widows and fatherless children 
of this congregation, the man whose ear and heart were 
always open to you, the man whose eyes were wont to melt at 
seeing you, the man whose hand delighted to divide with you 
his single loaf—this meekest, friendliest, kindest man is dead. 

Ye nearest, dearest kindred! Ah no! I cannot tell it fur- 
ther. O, God of love, why are we thus troubled? Why is 
such a one as we lament taken away from us? 

For a long sad time we marked his declining health ; aad 
many an anxious prayer was sent up after Jesus for him. 
Every expedient of human skill was tried in vain; and at 
last it was in vain that he was urged away to St. Augustine. 
He still grew weaker and more emaciated. He suffered much 
and died. But is he dead? “Iam the resurrection and the 
life, saith the Lord. He that believeth in me, though he were 
dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth 
in me shall never die.” Our brother “shall rise again.” 

Weeping friends, revive! Christ was with him—Christ is 
with us, in all this trying time, this “hour of darkness”. Bet- 
ter things than we have seen have been present under all our 
disappointed hope and anxious sympathy. He did not suffer 
unsustained: He did not die unblest. And even we, breth- 
ren beloved, may pluck life from his sepulchre. 


10 IN MEMORIAM 


Did he suffer? Lazarus too was sick, and Jesus chose to 
have itso. Yea, more, Jesus himself was “a man of sorrows 
and acquainted with grief.’ “He bore our sicknesses.” “It 
is enough for the disciple that he be as his Master, and the 
. servant as his Lord.” But who can tell the comforts of the 
pious sufferer? “The Christian”, exclaimed one who was 
wise in Christianity—‘“the Christian has his sorrows and his 
joys, but his sorrows are the sweeter!’ See that other Laza- 
rus, a loathsome spectacle of beggarly distress! Is there no 
human charity beyond a crumb of bread to bless the dying 
man? Can he not even get a single sheet in which to wrap 
him? O guilty shame! All his estate on earth is rags and 
wretchedness, disease and sores. But still that man is happy. 
“Man shall not live by bread alone.” The famine may devour 
the meal and oil, and pain and sickness may consume his 
flesh, but it is only to make room for God. “We joy in tribu- 
lation also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and 
patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh 
not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our 
hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” 

Our beloved Galluchat was full of comfort. “I visited him 
every day,” says the minister at St. Augustine, “until three 
days before his death, and then, until he died, I never left 
him, He gave me much instruction. He was always full of 
confidence in Christ, and suffered the most extreme pain 
- with truly Christian patience, rejoicing in the God of his sal- 
vation.” Another witness states that the sympathy of his 
friends, and particularly the sorrow of his wife at seeing him 
in pain, seemed to grieve him, and he would frequently say, 
with the most tender entreaty, “Be content to let me suffer; 
it is good for me.” When he came to die, he exhorted the 
minister who had been so becomingly attentive to be bold and 
faithful in his Master’s cause. He entreated his wife to resign 
him up to his God, reminding her how long a time had been 
permitted her to prepare, and comforting her with these 
words: “God will be a husband to you, and a father to my 
children.” To his two children (the third deceased a short 
time before him) he said little, but having caused them to 
kneel by his bedside, he offered up a most touching prayer for 


REV. JOSEPH GALLUCHAT. 11 


them; and this done, his last effort, in the very act of dying, 
was a broken utterance of praise to God. 

Beloved friends, brethren, kindred of the deceased, dry up 
your tears. What though your anxious prayers. brought not 
the answer you desired? What though your longing wishes 
for the life of one so much, so justly loved could not be real- 
ized? Still, I beseech you, “sorrow not as those who have no 
hope.” Receive your consolation. It is a mournful truth, 
our Galluchat is dead! But, if you would approach to 
Christ with Martha’s words, “Lord, if Thou hadst been here, 
my brother had not died’, let them not express at your lips a 
reproach on the Savior’s love. Utter them not but as the 
language of a subdued sensibility, which allows of nothing 
contrary to faith. Utter them not but to declare that in all 
your sorrows your reliance was on God. Let them tell that 
the selfishness of nature yields to the will of Heaven, and 
that no disappointment, no affliction, shall prevent you from 
adoring at the Master’s feet. 

Our Lazarus has been more than four days dead, and we 
should now be prepared to expostulate. Jesus would have it 
so. Griefs like ours ought to be improved. Know ye not in 
whom ye have believed? Do you complain that Jesus does 
not now go through the land to heal the sick and raise the 
dead? Are you envious of those who, when He was incarnate, 
could carry the sick to the place where He was and have 
them to touch Him and be whole? Are you-sad because you 
cannot see Him weep with you, as He wept with Martha and 
Mary? That very act of His compassion is now no less for 
you than once it wasfor them. It is “written for our learn- 
ing, that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, 
might have hope.” Does Jesus love you less because you 
cannot see him? ‘Why are ye troubled; and why do 
thoughts arise in your hearts?” You have seen that one was 
sick whom Jesus loved, one with whose sorrowing sisters 
“Jesus wept”, and yet He did not heal him. Was Lazarus 
less beloved than were the strangers of Gennessaret? Or did 
Jesus, staying at.the place where He was first told that Laza- 
rus was sick, love him less than if He had been present at his 
house? Even now, O thou weeping Martha—ye mourning 


12 IN MEMORIAM 


friends—“we have not a High Priest which cannot be 
touched with the feeling of our infirmities.” His “glorious 
body” may not weep, and a veil is upon our eyes, so that we 
cannot see the sublimer form of His compassion; but He has 
not left us ‘“comfortless’—He has not taken away from us 
His “grace and truth.” ‘Precious in the sight of the Lord is 
the tieath of his saints.” 

Lift up your heads! Hear the voice from Heaven exclaim- 
ing, “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.” Hear the 
words of Jesus: “I am the Resurrection and the Life.” 
Follow the triumphant flight of the departed saint to his rest 
in Heaven. O how does he who so loved piety on earth re- 
joice in Paradise! He whose soul was so delighted with “the — 
fellowship of saints”, how does he exult in the communion 
of prophets, and apostles, and martyrs, and of angels, and of 
God! Do you love him? When he was with you, you 
would scarcely call him from the little “feast of souls” with 
which he would refresh himself for an evening with his 
friends ; and now, O suffer him to stay with Jesus! “To be 
with Christ is far better.” 

Dearly beloved, let us not waste ourselves with “overmuch 
sorrow.” The Paradise and Heaven whither our friend is 
gone invite us rather to pursue him there than mourn his 
absence from this vale of tears. Let us “follow him, as he 
followed Christ”, “committing the keeping of our souls to 
God in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.” The righteous 
are “scarcely saved”, never without some “fiery trial”; and if 
we may but “wash our robes and make them white in the 
blood of the Lamb”, surely we can sustain the “tribulations” 
of the way. We admired the chastened piety of the elder 
sisters Martha and Mary under their bereavement in the 
death of Lazarus. Let us follow their example. He who was 
with them will be with us. His faithful word shall never 
fail us. His grace is all-sufficient. 

Oh! how great a work we have to do, that we may be 
“herfect and entire, lacking nothing”! What watching unto 
prayer, what self-denial and bearing of the Cross, what a 
“living by the faith of the Son of God, who hath loved us 
and given himself for us!’ When shall our faith be strong, 


REY. JOSEPH GALLUCHAT. 13 


embracing every word of God? When shall we be as meek 
and gentle, as patient and resigned, as heavenly-minded and 
holy as we ought? What shali unite us more closely to 
duty? What shall conform us more fully to Christ? “I 
thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord!” “Our light 
afflictions, which are but for a moment, work out for us a far 
more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” Have we been 
slow to “lay up treasures in Heaven”? Behold the hand of 
God is let down to aid us! Your tears may be converted 
into instruments of grace. Your sorrows may lead you to 
sanctification. Yes, the bleeding mercy of our dying Lord 
has purchased for you such abundant grace, that “although 
you now have sorrow, your sorrow shall be turned into joy; 
and your joy no man taketh from you.” 

Let me heseech you, then, by your duty to the Savior, by 
your love for the deceased, and as you hepe to regain him in 
Heaven, sorrow not as though there were no “God in Israel.” 
Sorrow not as hopelessly as though the joys of Paradise and 
Heaven were unworthy of you. 

Let me charge you that those eyes now sore with weeping, 
that woe heaving bosom, that afflicted heart, go not uncom- 
forted in the day when it shall be said, “The Master is come 
and calleth for thee’. When he shall come not to “weep”, 
but to “wipe all tears from our eyes” not to “groan in the 
spirit’, ybut to make an end of “death”, and “sorrow”, and 
“pain”, and “crying”. Oh! in that day when “the King 
shall say to them on His right hand, ‘Come ye blessed of my 
Father’ ;’,'be ye ialso ready “to enter into the joy of your 
Lord.” AMEN. 


14 IN MEMORIAM 


MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOSEPH GALLUCHAT. 


BY REV. LEWIS MYERS. 





From the Methodist Magazine, September, 1826. 

Joseph Galluchat was born in St. Domingo, September, 1788. 
At the commencement of the revolution at that place, his 
mother, sisters and himself left there and fled to Charleston, 
S. C., where he received his education. His parents were 
members of the Roman Catholic church, and his early pre- 
possessions were in favor of that communion. For several 
years he lived with a respectable merchant in the city, and 
was engaged in mercantile business. In his youth he ap- 
peared fashionable and gay, and thoughtless with regard te 
eternal things. In the 19th year of his age he married Miss 
Virginia Lawson, of Santee, S.C. In the fall of 1808 he at- © 
tended a campmeeting ; and under the ministry of the Rey. 
Wm. Capers was brought to a knowledge of himself as a sin- 
ner, and of Jesus the Saviour of sinners. When under con- 
viction he did not trifle with his case, but immediately fled 
to the Physician of souls and obtained peace with God. The 
evidence of pardon appeared to him full, and he rejoiced in 
God with confidence ; this he retained with little interruption 
till God took him to himself. 

What God had enabled him thus to enjoy he heartily de- 
sired that others might share, and God evidently called him 
to the ministry. He received license as a local preacher in 
the Methodist Episcopal Church in the 22nd year of his age. 
He was ordained elder in the South Carolina annual confer- 
ence held at Camden in 1818. When he married he lived in 
the country ; but some time after he returned to Charleston, 
aud for several years taught a Lancastrian school; but his 
health declining the school was discontinued. Afterwards, 
he was for five years book-keeper in the U. 8. Branch Bank in 
Charleston. In the mean time he evinced a thirst for know- 


REY. JOSEPH GALLUCHAT. 15 


ledge, and became conversant with various branches of useful 
learning. He spoke the French language fluently, had some 
knowledge of the Latin, and he studied the science of medi- 
cine. Had his health permitted he might have entered into 
an extensive practice. While he was thus evidencing his zeal 
for knowledge the fire which God had kindled on the altar of 
his heart was rising in its strength, and the flame was felt in 
his family and in the church. To obtain a more thorough 
knowledge of the Scriptures he acquired a considerable know- 
ledge of the Greek and Hebrew languages. Out of his treasure 
he brought things new and old. He was a practical divine. 
His pulpit instructions were always evangelical, instructive 
and impressive. During the eleven years of his ministry in 
Charleston, his congregations were always large, and testified 
a high esteem of his talents; and he labored to be useful to 
all. Though naturally aspiring, grace had obtained such com- 
plete conquest of his heart that he could emphatically say 
with the Apostle, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the 
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified 
unto me, and I unto the world.” And if he was taught to 
ask with Solomon, “Who is able to stand beforeenvy?”, God 
gave him the answer, and his heart understood it. Ina letter 
to a friend on a trying occasion, to whom he was wont to un- 
bosom his thoughts, after describing some of his conflicts, he 
adds, “I believe I have escaped the snare of the fowler; at 
any rate I can raise my ebenezer; blessed be the Lord for all 
his mercies: deliverance and salvation belong unto him.” He 
was always at the service of the church, according to his abili- 
ties, ard while his enlarged heart bid God-speed to every am- 
bassador of Christ of every name he felt where and by what 
instruments h2 was called. He frequently viewed the scene of 
1808 with transports of joy and gratitude. The plainness and 
simplicity of manners, accompanied by the piety and zeal of 
the ministers and members of that day, bordering on primitive 
Methodist times. accorded fully with his views and senti- 
ments,—and he could unhesitatingly say, “J am as ye are” ; 
and he never changed. He was generous and charitable. In 
him the poor, the widow, the orphan, the sick and the dying 
found a triend, always ready to minister to their mental and 


16 IN MEMORIAM 


bodily comfort according to his ability. I knew him person- 
ally upwards of six years,—I write with confidence. Num- 
bers will rise and call him blessed in that day when the earth 
and sea shall give up their dead. 

For several years his ardent soul looked towards a scene of 
labor beyond his local sphere ; he had a great desire to enter 
as a traveling minister into the vineyard of the Lord; but 
here he found various and formidable obstacles. His bodily 
affliction was not among the smallest. Friends knowing his 
situation feared to encourage him in the undertaking—he 
hesitated. At length his desire to die in the itinerant field 
predominated, and he was admitted at the conference held in 
Charleston, 1824, and stationed in that city. The sequel 
proved that the sword was too sharp for the sheath. He, 
however, entered his work with his usual ardor. Soon after, 
he thus writes to a friend: “I felt an imperious necessity for 
something extraordinary to be done. The plan I adopted was 
to go from house to house, talk plainly and lovingly, and pray 
with each. I soon found the burden too heavy. I would stop 
a week, get better, begin again, and again sink; until, with — 
other duties, I’ve sunk, to all appearance and feelings, to rise 
no more. I still endeavor to say, and in some degree to feel, 
good is the will of God—let it be done.” The consumption 
marched with rapid strides, so that he had to desist and 
retire. The sermon before alluded to, thus describes the 
closing scene: 

“For a long, sad time we marked his declining health; and 
many an anxious prayer was sent after Jesus for him. Every 
expedient of human skill was tried in vain; and at last it 
was in vain that he was urged away to St. Augustine. He 
still grew weaker and more emaciated. * * * Our be 
loved Galluchat was full of comfort. ‘I visited him every 
day’, says the minister of St. Augustine, ‘until three days 
before he died, and then until he died I never left him. He 
gave me much instruction. He was always full of confidence in 
Christ, and suffered the most extreme pain with truly Chris- 
tian patience, rejoicing in the God of his salvation.’ Another 
witness states that the sympathy of his friends, and particu- 
larly the sorrow of his wife, at seeing him in pain seemed to 


REV. JOSEPH GALLUCHAT. 17 


grieve him; and he would frequently say, with the most 
tender entreaty, ‘Be content to let me suffer; it is good for 
me.’ When he came to die, he exhorted the minister who 
had been so becomingly attentive to be bold and faithful in 
his Master’s cause. He entreated his wife to resign him up to 
his God, reminding her how long a time had been permitted 
her to prepare, and comforting her with these words: ‘God 
will be a husband to you, and a father to my children.’ To 
his two children (the third died a short time before him) he 
said little, but having caused them to kneel by his bedside, 
he offered up a most touching prayer for them; and this done, 
his last effort, in the very act of dying, was a broken utter- 
ance of praise to God.” 

Thus he died, on the 8th day of April, 1825, in the 37th 
year of hisage; and at his request was brought to Santee, S. 
C., and interred in the family burying-ground. He is one of 
those men in whose Christian life and triumphant death I 
have the utmost confidence. Reader, soon will we also be 
called off; let us be ready. 





TRIBUTE TO THE LATE REV, JOSEPH GALLUCHAT, 





Extract of a letter from a lady in the Upper Country of South 

Carolina to a relative in Charleston. 

I am much obliged to you for the Sermon* you had the 
goodness to send me. The perusal of it afforded a repast 
which warmed my heart and seemed to animate and enliven 
my whole frame. Mr. Galluchat was indeed one of the ex- 
cellent of the earth, and is now gone to join exulting millions 
in their song of triumph. I think it was at the Warm 
Springs, N. C., in the summer of 1815, that I first became 
acquainted with him. The enthusiasm of his manner soon 





** A printed copy of the Sermon delivered by the Rev. William 
Capers on the death of the Rev. Mr. Galluchat. 


18 IN MEMORIAM 


caught my attention, but it was the vein of ardent piety run- 
ning through his whole conversation which riveted that 
attention, and convinced me that he was indeed one of God’s 
dear children, an heir of Heaven and an expectant of bliss. 
Many years since then have winged their rapid flight, and 
many scenes through which I have since passed have almost 
faded from my remembrance, but all his pious labors that 
summer still live in my memory, and while memory serves I 
shall ever cherish the recollection of them. How many in- - 
teresting conversations had I with him on that subject which 
of all others should interest us most—even the salvation of our 
never-dying souls. And how strong was his faith; how bright 
his evidences. It was on the 4th of December last (1824) that 
I saw him for the last time. His conversation was then truly 
delightful. He had made every preparation for his passage 
over Jordan, and was then waiting ready on its brink, expect- 
ing hourly to besummoned away. And how rich were his 
consolations! They were such as the world is too poor to 
give, too powerless to take away. Mr. Galluchat was indeed — 
one of the meekest, humblest of Christians. Oh! how Ilove 
to recall to mind his unostentatious manner, the equanimity 
of his temper, and the beautiful consistency of his conduct. 
I felt the last time I saw him as if our next meeting would 
be in the presence of God, and, oh, it was a solemn feeling. 
May we, dear Father, be prepared to join him at the right 
hand of our Maker, that we also may hear the blessed sen- 
tence pronounced unto us: “Well done, good and faithful 
servant, enter thou into thy Master’s joy.” “Perfect love 
casteth out fear”, and it was really verified in him; for he 
seemed not to consider death as the king of terrors, but as the 
welcome messenger who was to open to him the portals of 
everlasting bliss. You think, no doubt, I have said enough, 
but let me assure you that I have said no more than he 
deserved.—[From the Wesleyan Journal, Drs. Olin and Capers, 
Editors, published at Charleston, S. C., January 7, 1826, and on 
file in Wofford College Library. 


REV. JOSEPH GALLUCHAT. 19 


AN EXTRACT 


From a Lecture delivered by the Rev. Samuel Leard, before the 
Historical Society of the South Carolina Conference, at 
Charleston, S. C., December, 1879. 





We will now invite your attention to the life and character 
of one ot the most distinguished ministers brought out in the 
first decade of the present century, and yet one who can hardly 
be said to have belonged to the itinerancy, although he was at 
one time admitted into the Conference. This was the year 
before his lamented death. His labors were confined mostly 
to the city of Charleston, which was his home. We allude to 
the Rev. Joseph Galluchat. 

His life abounds in romantic as well as religious interest. 
We are indebted to his son, the Rev. Joseph Galluchat, junior, 
now a lawyer and local preacher at Manning, Clarendon 
County, 8. C., for nearly all the facts we present to you on this 
occasion. 

The Rev. Joseph Galluchat, senior, was born in France, A. 
D. 1788. He was the youngest child and only son of his 
parents, who, in his infancy, emigrated from France to the 
Island of San Domingo, which at that time belonged to 
France, and had been settled mainly by French colonists. 
His father was a wealthy gentleman, the owner of large sugar 
and coffee plantations and many slaves. His parents were 
Roman Catholics in religion. The father died some years 
after his settlement on the island, leaving his widow, three 
daughters and one son, Joseph. 

The well-known servile insurrection and slaughter of the 
whites occurred when Joseph was eleven yearsold. One sister, 
with her husband and children, perished in the terrible massa- 
ere of the whites, whilst, through the agency of one of his 
father’s slaves, a leader in the insurrection, Mrs. Galluchat, 
her son Joseph and about twenty of her slaves escapéd on 
board a vessel bound for Charleston. The two remaining sis- 


20 IN MEMORIAM 


ters in like manner escaped, one to Baltimore and the other to 
New Orleans. The mother died soon after her arrival in 
Charleston, but left enough of her shattered fortune for the 
education of her children. Joseph received a good English 
and classical education. At eighteen years of age he came 
into Clarendon County, Sumter District, and was married to 
Miss Virginia Lawson, who was only sixteen. He is de- 
scribed as being, at that time, a “gay, wild young Frenchman, 
impulsive and passionate.” A word and blow was his 
method of resenting the smallest approach to an insult. J. 
Harnblin Reagan, then a young man, and afterwards distin- 
guished for his piety and devotion to the Methodist church, 
was his friend and chosen companion. “Like all the French, 
he was passionately fond of dancing.” At that time there were 
but two Methodists in all that region of country; one the 
mother-in-law of Galluchat, Mrs. Elizabeth Lawson, the other 
a Mrs. Dingle, the mother of Adam and J. Harvey Dingle, of 
blessed memory. Sometime during the year 1808, a camp- 
meeting was held at old Taw-Caw, not far from where St. 
Paul’s church now stands. At that meeting the then youthful 
William Capers (afterwards Bishop) preached a sermon 
which arrested the attention of the gay young Galluchat, 
and resulted in his happy conversion, first to God and then 
to Methodism. In the preface to the funeral sermon in mem- 
ory of the Rey. Joseph Galluchat, preached by Dr. W. Capers, ~ 
in 1825, he claims him as his “first son in the Gospel ;” and 
surely distinguished father was never honored with a more 
distinguished son. He was reticent about the change in his 
spirit and purposes for some time. He was tempted on the 
most assailable side of his nature—his fondness for fashion- 
able amusements—and finally told his wife: “Virginia, I 
am done with balls and everything of the kind. I intend to 
lead a new life and devote the remainder of my days to my 
God.” Never was purpose better kept. 

His wife soon followed him into the church, and shortly af- 
ter he was licensed to preach. He returned again to Charles- 
ton, which he made his home until his death. As to his per- 
sonal appearance, mental habitudes, and manner in the pul- 
pit, we cannot do better than to copy the following descrip- 


REY. JOSEPH GALLUCHAT. 21 


tion, as given by his son, the Rev. Joseph Galluchat, junior : 

“He was tall and well made, dark complexion (brunette), 
large, full, black eyes, and very black hair...... In his dress 
and appearance, he was a model of neatness and simplicity. 
eer. His dress was a full suit of black with white cravat...... 
He never allowed anything superfluous or simply ornamental 
to appear about his person...... He walked as erect as an In- 
dian, and generally slowly and deliberately. His manners were 
those of the pure French, refined, Christian gentleman. People 
of all classes and conditions received naught but the kindest 
treatment at his hands; consequently the people of Charles- 
ton of every class....freely resorted to his house for social 
intercourse, advice or comfort, as their different cases required. 
I have seen seated in his parlor, engaged in social converse, 
Governor Thomas Bennett, Judge John S. Richardson, Thomas 
S. Grimke, Benjamin F. Dunkin, James L. Petigru, Rev. John 
Bachman, and last, but not least, his beloved friend Dr. 8. 
Henry Dickson, and others like them. And I have seen in 
the same parlor, occupying one of the same chairs, and en- 
gaged in brotherly religious conversation, the well known old 
negro Castile Selby, of Bethel church. The fact is, that such 
was the mesmeric (religious) influence he exerted upon others, 
that he bound to himself, in bonds of love, all and every one 
who came in contact with or approached him. His literary ac- 
quirements were extensive and thorough. He spoke fluently 
the English, French (his native tongue), and Spanish lan- 
guages, and had mastered the Hebrew sufficiently to enable 
him to read and study the Old Testament in the original. He 
was also a good Latin and Greek scholar, and, until prostrated 
by disease, was an indefatigably hard student. His style of 
preaching was fluent, soft and persuasive. Seldom did he 
preach without melting the crowds who thronged to hear 
him into tears, whilst with streaming eyes, heaving breast 
and extended hands, he would plead with them ‘to come to 


Jesus. His language was ..... chaste and eloquent—his 
words seemed to flow from his lps without.....effort on his 
part.” 


The event in his ministerial life which gave it the greatest 
notoriety was his controversy with Bishop England, of the 


22 IN MEMORIAM 


Roman (Catholic Church, in Charleston. We cannot enter into 
a detailed account of this intellectual war between the two 
giants, but must satisfy our hearers with a general outline of 
this theological discussion. Bishop England had challenged 
the Protestant, clergy of this city to meet and discuss with him 
the sufficiency of the Scriptures alone for salvation. It was 
only another form of denying the right of private judgment in 
interpreting the Word of God, the Bishop, of course, taking the 
negative. A meeting of all the Protestant clergy in the city 
was called, and, after due consideiation, it was determined to 
meet him, and the Rev. Joseph Galluchat was selected as their 
champion. With characteristic modesty- he objected to the 
arrangement. He had been brought up in the Catholie faith. 
It was the religion of his ancestors, and the ashes of his be- 
loved mother reposed in consecrated ground, near the Cathe- 
dral. His brethren overruled his objections, and pressed him 
into service. He attended the Bishop’s three sermons and 
took notes. This, after the ‘first service, was attended with 
great personal risk. His life was threatened. A note thrown 
into his yard warned him, that if he persisted in attending the 
church, and taking notes, he would never return to his house 
alive. He went, leaving his wife in tears and great consterna- 
tion. It was now a matter of duty, and he counted not his- 
life dear unto himself. The notes were taken. As he came 
out of the church, Dr. 8. Henry Dickson and John L. Felder, 
then a student of medicine, and a relative of Mrs. Galluchat, 
met him and escorted him home in safety. Other eyes were 
watching, and other hands were prepared to defend him. 
The time for the reply came, and the Bishop was answered, 
in Old Trinity Church, in the presence of a large and deeply 
interested audience, Bishop England, for a part of the time, 
being present. Our authority states that he left precipitately 
before the conclusion of the reply. The Protestant clergy met 
again and appointed a committee to wait upon Mr. Galluchat 
and request a copy of his reply for publication. It was pub- 
lished, and two days after, us Mr. Galluchat was sitting all 
alone in Dr. Dickson’s office reading, three ruffians crept 
silently into the door, and before he was aware of their presence, 
he received a violent blow with a bludgeon across his face. 


REV. JOSEPH GALLUCHAT. 23 


He arose and wrested the stick from the would-be murderer’s 
hand and threw it toward the door. Theother two men then 
rushed forward and seized his arms, whilst the first ruffian, 
who struck the blow, seized him by his cravat and choked 
him until he fell fainting to the floor. Just at that moment 
Drs. Henry Dickson and Glover rode up to the door, and the 
ruffians fled. A great and excited crowd soon assembled ; 
and among them old Father Muckenfuss and a brother Fair, 
who threatened summary vengeance on the would-be mur- 
derers if they could be found. A violent cough ensued upon 
this outrageous treatment. A blood vessel was ruptured— 
great hemorrhages followed, and, although he partially re- 
covered, he was never well again, and his constitutional 
tendency to consumption was greatly accelerated. It isdue to 
historical truth to say that Bishop England called to see him, 
_and expressed the greatest abhorrence of the conduct of the 
ruffians, the deepest sympathy ‘with the sufferer, and denied 
any authorized complicity with such outrageous conduct on 
the part of his church. The three men were discovered, 
arrested and imprisoned. When General Robert Y. Hayne, 
then Attorney-General of the State, called upon Mr. Galluchat 
and asked the question, “What shall-be done with the pris- 
ers?”, his invariable answer was, “I will leave them in the 
hands of God.” “That may do for you, Mr. Galluchat,” said 
Mr. Hayne; “but it will not do for me.” Bail was denied 
them, until it should be seen what was the result of their 
violence. When Mr. Galluchat was sufficiently recovered, it 
is said that he visited the prisoners in their cells and sought 
to instruct them and prayed for and with them. Finally, 
when they were admitted to bail, the name of Joseph Gallu- 
chat was the first one on their bonds. We have not stated 
these facts at random, but have written and responsible author- 
ity for every statement. In the latter part of 1824 his friends 
judged it necessary to send him to St. Augustine, as a last 
resort. He was accompanied by his wife and two children; 
Joseph, now an old man, an intelligent lawyer and local 
preacher, and Virginia, afterward the wife, and now the 
honored widow, of the Rev. W. C. Kirkland, and the mother 
of Rev. W. D. Kirkland, of the South Carolina Conference, 


24 IN MEMORIAM 


and Mrs. Selina or Cathrine Davis, of this city. He also had 
the pastoral care and sympathy of the Rey. Daniel G. 
McDaniel, one of the purest spirits in the South Carolina Con- 
ference. He had the medical care of Dr. Furman, but all was 
of no avail. Die he must. The last scene is thus touchingly 
described by his own son: “He seemed distressed at my 
mother weeping—reminded her how long God had given 
her to prepare for his death—and begged her to be faithful, 
assuring her that God would take care of her and her father- 
less children. He thanked the minister and the physician for 
their kind attention. He then caused myself and my sister 
to kneel at his bed-side, and placing a hand on each of our 
heads, offered up a most heart-touching prayer in our behalf. 
This done, he placed his own hands over his eyes, and with 
his fingers closed them himself. The minister perceiving his 
lips moving, and thinking that he was trying to say some- . 
thing, placed his ear close to his lips, and heard him dis- 
tinetly repeat, in a whisper, the first stanza of the hymn 


commencing, 
‘**And let this feeble body fail.’ 


Just as he had finished repeating the last line, viz. : 
** ‘In my Redeemer’s breast,’ 

his hands, which were lying on either cheek, with the fingers 
on his eyes, gently glided down to his chin. The stillness of 
death reigned in the room. Not a whisper nor a breath to 
be heard, not a groan or a struggle, not even a gasp; in fact, 
nothing to indicate death. There he lay with eyes closed, as 
he had closed them, and with a sweet, placid smile irradiat- 
ing his pale face. For nearly a minute no one moved, not 
believing he was dead. Then Dr. Furman placed his hand on 
his wrist, feeling for his pulse; he then passed it to his breast, 
and felt for the pulsations of his heart; he then looked at the 
minister, and, with a smile illuminating his countenance, 
said, ‘Another saint in heaven.’ He was dead.” 

His body was taken to Charleston, and after the funeral ser- 
mon was preached by Dr. William Capers, who loved him 
with an unfathomable affection, and whose great heart burst 
out in the exclamation, “Our GALLUCHAT IS DEAD!”, was 
taken to the family burying ground on Santee, in Clarendon, 


REV. W. C. KIRKLAND. 25 


where father and mother now lie side by side, until the resur- 
rection morn. 
“So fades a summer cloud away ; 
So sinks the gale, when storms are O’er ; 
So gently shuts the eye of day; 
So dies a wave along the shore.” 





DEATH OF REV, W. C. KIRKLAND, 





From the Southern Christian Advocate. 

The amiable and devoted W. C. Kirkland, of our Confer- 
ence, is dead. He fell asleep in Jesus on last Wednesday 
night at twenty minutes past twelve o’clock, at the residence 
of Dr. W. Austin. I was with him to the last, and com- 
mended his departing spirit to the Redeemer of Man. He 
died easy and in great peace. 

The Church will weep when she records his name on the 
list of her departed worthies, and well may she weep. Never 
perhaps will she have greater cause. May God protect and 
bless his sorrowing family. ~W. H. FLenmine. 

SpaRTANBURG, April 3d, 1864. 





From the Southern Christian Advocate. 


The memory of men like Wm. C. Kirkland the Church has 
ever accounted precious. As we consider his holy walk and 
conversation in our midst only a few weeks ago, and then 
contemplate him as now in the enjoyment of that reward to 
which he had so long looked forward, and of which he had 
so much spoken, we feel that the communion between heaven 
and earth is intimate and glorious. A life which so exem- 
plified the beauty, purity and power of the religion of Jesus 
ought to be commemorated by a more extended record than 
can at present be given. 


26 IN MEMORIAM 


He was born in Barnwell District, 8. C., in January, 1814. 
He professed justifying faith and joined the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church in early life. In 1837, at the age of 23, he was 
admitted into the S. C. Conference, and at the end of the disci- 
plinary terms was ordained successively deacon and elder. 
From his first connection with the Conference to his death, 
he remained a member of that body, reliable in council, | 
abundant in labors, fervent in devotion to the Church, and 
beloved by all. 

For 27 years his qualifications as a minister of the Gospel 
were fully tested in the various fields of the itinerant work, 
missions, circuits and stations. In each of these positions he 
was alike efficient and esteemed. For a few years just past, 
the feeble condition of his health had made it necessary for 
him to sustain a supernumerary relation; but, with what 
strength he possessed, he still discharged the functions of 
his holy calling, greatly to the edification and pleasure 
of the congregations to whom he ministered. He resided 
during these years at Spartanburg. At the last session 
of Conference he ventured to accept a regular appoint- 
ment; and Greenville Circuit had just congratulated itself 
on being favored with such a pastor and preacher, when 
lo! the summons came, and bade him leave earthly toil 
and enter into the eternal rest above. He had passed 
around his circuit about twice, perhaps had preached at some 
churches three times ; and the whole community was happy 
in prospect of his stay as long as circumstances would permit. 
His plan required him to preach twice on the Sabbath. This 
he did March 13th, and in both discourses spoke with more 
than ordinary warmth, pathos and power. Leaving the 
church (at McBee’s) after the second service, he took a chill 
on going in the cold air. Next morning he went on his 
way in the direction of his home as far as Dr. W. H. Austin’s. 
At this point he stopped, and was immediately taken in 
charge by his professional friend and brother. By this time 
he was very sick. His wife (at Spartanburg) was promptly 
informed of his condition, and she immediately hastened to 
his bedside, which she never left until her watchful care was 
no longer needed. All that a kind family, who dearly loved 


od 


REV. W. C. KIRKLAND. 27 


him, could do for his comfort was done; and every possible 
attention was given him by Dr. A. and the uncle of the 
latter, Dr. T. C. Austin. However, all efforts to subdue the 
disease (pneumonia) were unavailing; and a little after mid- 
night, early on the morning of March 31st, he expired. 

He suffered a great deal during his sickness, but éndured 

-as a Christian hero. He could not talk much in his last 
days; but he said enough to indicate all that is necessary at the 
close of a life like his, namely, that he had “kept the faith.” 

A brief conversation a day or two before his dissolution, on 
the subject of his departure, gave satisfactory proof that all 
was well—that although he should go down the valley he 
would fear no evil. The same Saviour who had all along been 
with him was still present with him to support and comfort 
him. It was a touching illustration of the drift of his 
thoughts and his affections that a day or two before his 
death, in the partial aberrations of his mind, he fancied him- 
self administering the holy communion, and he was repeating 
its solemn forms in his accustomed devout and reverential 
tones. The Church, the circuit, seemed to be a chief theme of 
his thoughts and conversation during his illness; and it was 
a source of great anxiety to him, that there might be no loss 
on account of his disability: 

The body was conveyed to Spartanburg, and after funeral 
services conducted by Dr. Whitefoord Smith, it was laid away 
with many tears in the village cemetery. It rests just at the 
right hand on entering the gate. 

We mourn his departure, not for him, but ourselves. Not 
a sigh may escape in anxiety for him, but his family, the 
Church and the country have all been bereaved by the fall 
of one of the most amiable, useful and best of men. This 
article would be too much lengthened by an attempt to de- 
lineate his character as it deserves to be done, but to say 
nothing would be inexcusable. 

His popularity wherever he was known rested upon the 
most solid and praiseworthy foundation. The features of his 
character were all in such beautiful symmetry and accorded 
one with another in such perfect harmony, that it was dif- 
ficult to say wherein he was faulty. In the social circle, his 





28 IN MEMORIAM 


countenance, his words and his whole deportment bespoke a 
warm, philanthropic heart, a pure and generous spirit, 
and a mind intent only on good. He was dignified without 
being forbidding; cheerful without levity; grave without 
gloom, and strict without austerity. 

In his pastoral intercourse he was energetic, faithful, sympa- 
thetic and benevolent; and with holy zeal he moved asa 
messenger of peace and love, with equal acceptability among 
the educated and the illiterate, the uncultivated and the 
refined. 

His preaching was eminently practical and useful; and 
his style and manner in the pulpit were uncommonly judi- 
cious and agreeable. He had the happy gift of making his 
congregation feel that he was indeed not only in earnest, but 
that he was himself but a messenger of the Most High, and 
that he would prefer to be considered as “a voice erying”, and” 
* nothing more. His humility and Christian meekness and 
modesty were apparent to every hearer, while with holy bold- 
ness he proclaimed the threatened judgments of God against 
the sinner, as well as while he heralded the sweet invitations 
of the Gospel. There was in brother K. nothing of the artistie 
or affected, either in voice or gesture. He was so perfectly art- 
less and natural, so manifestly sincere, so practical and just 
in his expositions, and so lucid and forcible in his illustra- 
tions, that all grades of intelligence heard him with pleasure 
and with profit. There can be no doubt that his labors in 
the ministry have been abundantly blessed of God, and 
crowned with great success in bringing wanderers home, 
and confirming the faith of believers. A learned divine of 
another branch of the Church once remarked to the writer 
of this notice, “If I had control of a Theological Seminary I 
would like to have Bro. K. to fill the chair of Christian Homi- 
letics and Pulpit Oratory.” 

Let not his heartstricken widow and seven children ask in 
vain for the prayers of the-Church. A. H. Lester. 

Buena Vista, §. C. 


MRS. NANCY ALICE KIRKLAND. 29 


MRS, NANCY ALICE KIRKLAND. 





BY WARREN DUPRE. 





Mrs. Nancy Alice Kirkland, daughter of Rev. J. S. and 
Mary Eliza Burnett, was born on the French Broad, North 
Carolina, March 7, 1848—was married to Mr. W. C. Kirkland 
in Spartanburg, January 31, 1869—gave birth to a son, Charles 
Burnett, November 2, died in Cartecay, Georgia, December 28, 
1869, and was buried by the side of her mother in Asheville, 
North Carolina. 

Were there no God, no Christ, no Holy Ghost, in short no 
Christianity, the above brief record of the life and death of a 
modest, intelligent and harmless woman might satisfy all 
the reasonable demands of society. To draw existence, prop- 
agate and rot like the brutes perish, is not all of human life; 
for no one liveth to himself, and no one dieth to himself; but 
whether living or dying, we are the Lord’s. And when we 
consider that Christianity is a system of religion, designed to 
regenerate the heart, purify the life and fit the soul to live 
and act in a higher sphere of being, then the life and death of 
one who had made that system not only the philosophy but 
the practice of her life assume the importance of an “Experi- 
mentum Crucis” in the records of the church, and bring to the 
desolate house, sorrowing relatives and friends, a consolation 
that the world cannot give. 

’ The subject of this memorial was early trained by her pious 
parents to fear God and keep His commandments. She soon 
acquired a fondness for reading, and devoted much time to 
her Bible and religious books. When quite young she was 
sent to Sunday school, and in a short time became remarka- 
ble for application to her studies, and exactness in her recita- 
tions. This connection she maintained, either as pupil or 
teacher, to the day of her death; presenting to the young and 
old an example worthy of imitation. We too often look 





30 IN MEMORIAM 


upon the Sunday school as a place suitable only for children, 
and not worthy of the highest intellect. We overlook its im- 
portance as an agent in the cultivation of personal piety, as a 
wide field of usefulness for pious efforts; and thus, by our 
example, entail upon the church the loss of all that youthful — 
energy which our Saviour purchased with His own precious 

blood. , 

In her seventh or eighth year she expressed to her parents, 
with many tears, an earnest desire to be a Christian—joined 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and soon after ob- 
tained the pearl of great price. “Suffer little children to come 
unto me, and forbid them not,” said our child-loving Saviour, 
and a consistent, pious, devoted life proved that little Alice 
was not presumptuous in her desire, and her parents were not 
mistaken in their construction of that permission when they 
led their little daughter to the altar of God. Being from a 
child gentle, trusting, affectionate, she drew around her, 
wherever she went, a circle of warm friends, and under the 
influence of the good Spirit early developed that meekness, 
faith, and devotion to her Master’s cause which characterized 
her whole Christian life. 

Not many years after, she endured that severest trial in a 
daughter’s life, the loss of a fond and pious mother. The 
cares of her father’s household and the training of her two 
younger brothers devolved almost exclusively upon her. 
Young as she was, she met the responsibilities and performed 
the duties of her trying position with motherly care and 
sisterly affection. Her father writes: “I know she has been 
at home a most exemplary Christian, an affectionate and 
dutiful child and a tender and self-sacrificing sister. She 
bore on her heart for years cares and responsibilities which 
would have been sufficiently onerous for riper years.” 

Our first acquaintance with her was formed at the sick bed 
of her father a few months after their removal to Spartanburg, 
South Carolina, when they found refuge from the disturb- 
ances of the war in Tennessee and Western North Carolina. 
Her connection for a few months with the Female College 
enabled her teachers to form a correct estimate of her merits 
and worth. She was modest, gentle, confiding and affection- 


MRS. NANCY ALICE KIRKLAND. on 


ate in her social intercourse, diligent in her studies, accurate 
in her recitations and exhibited a maturity of intellect and 
character that is seldom met with in one so young. A little 
incident in this connection will exhibit at once many of tne 
finer qualities of her nature. For several weeks her teachers 
observed that the school-room was every morning nicely 
swept, and the furniture tastefully arranged, without being 
able to find out the author of these delicate attentions. Ar- 
riving one morning earlier than usual, they found her alone, 
with broom in hand, enveloped in a cloud of dust. Upon 
being complimented for her industry and good taste, she 
modestly replied: “O, sir, I did not expect you so soon—but 
it’s no trouble, as I am used to it, and it gives me pleasure to 
think that my teachers and schoolmates will feel better and 
look better in a clean room.” 

A deeper insight into her religious life was obtained by 
the writer of this notice while she was, for several years, a 
member of his Sunday afternoon class. Her religion was a 
religion of principle and of love. Strict and conscientious 
_in the performance of every duty, she was always fearful lest 
she might rely too much upon works. She yearned for that 
higher state of piety in which she might act, not from a prin- 
ciple of duty, but from a feeling of love to God. She wanted 
to perform every duty cheerfully, and make every sacrifice 
contribute to her growth in grace. Refined and delicate in 
her sensibilities, she watched every approach of pride and 
vanity, modestly underrated her attainments, longed for 
greater purity of heart and increasing love for the Saviour. 
Viewing life not as a fleeting show, made up of vanity, toil 
and pleasure, to be employed in idle pursuits or frivolous 
amusements, but as a reality, a sacred gift to be used in train- 
ing her soul for a higher sphere of action, she became 
impressed that she had an important work to perform. 
Much of her leisure time was spent in visiting the sick, the 
poor and needy in her neighborhood, ministering to their 
temporal and spiritual wants. Always accessible, gentle and 
kind to them, she gained their confidence and affection ; and 
the many regrets which some of them have expressed for her 
death show that her memory and influence are felt and 


32 IN MEMORIAM 


cherished by them. Soon after her marriage and removal to 
Cartecay, Georgia, where her husband was engaged in teach- 
ing a large school, she was impressed that Providence had 
called them there to do an important work. She urged her 
husband to renewed zeal, assisted him in organizing a Sun- 
day school, became a zealous and efficient teacher, and was 
instrumental in doing much good. Feeling the want of the 
religious privileges which she enjoyed at her former home, 
and knowing the advantages of the social element of Chris- 
tianity, she attempted to organize a circle of prayer among 
her female companions, but failed from want of proper co- 
operation. But still her zeal did not abate, and =_ availed 
herself of every opportunity to do good. 

A life based upon such noble principles, and characterized 
by so much zeal, could not but have a peaceful, happy and 
even triumphant end. On the 13th of November, 1869, she 
was brought very low by typhoid fever, and, supposing her 
end to be near, said to. her husband: “I must die, but Iam 
going to Heaven; not for anything which I have done, but 
only through the merits of Jesus.” She then requested all _ 
her relatives and friends to “live high Christian lives, and 
meet her in Heaven.” And now, supposing her work to be 
done, and banishing all worldly care from her mind, she 
begged all not to attempt to detain her longer, as she was 
anxious to go. Then in a transport of joy she exclaimed : 
“The blood of Jesus will be my watchword at the gate of 
Heaven. O grave, where is thy victory! O death, where is 
thy sting!” 

A partial recovery from this attack revived the hopes of 
her friends, but did not abate her zeal for her Master’s cause. 
She spent much of the succeeding weeks in talking to her 
friends about their spiritual interests and in trying to impress 
upon the minds of her Sunday school scholars who visited 
her the importance of early giving their hearts to God. To 
her kind and attentive physician, upon whom she had often 
urged the importance of attending to the interests of his soul, 
she said: “You may think I am over-zealous in this matter, 
but my conscience has so often accused me of neglecting this 
duty to my friends when I was well, that now, when I feel 


MRS. NANCY ALICE KIRKLAND. 33 


| 
my days will soon be numbered, I must try to. redeem the 
time.” 

A complication of diseases succeeding, her sufferings became 
intense, producing wanderings of mind, with intervals of 
repose and perfect consciousness. On Sunday, December 
26th, she was once more brought to the verge of Jordan, 
and, calling her friends ‘around her, asked her father to 
sing those hymns so expressive of her feelings and appro- 
priate to her case, “Oh, sing to me of Heaven” and “Come, 
thou fount.” Hearing him remark that he could not go 
with her, but he was anxious to see her safe across the 
river, she requested him to pray that she might leave a bright 
evidence of her Saviour’s presence. She accompanied each 
petition with audible responses, and at the close rejoiced in 
the immediate answer to her prayer, saying: “I feel as calm 
as an infant upon its mother’s breast.” Two evenings after- 
wards, upon being asked by her husband, “Are you alone ?”, 
she replied: ‘‘No, Jesus is with me.” “Are you still calm ?” 
“Yes, perfectly. But do not think that I have had no doubts, 
for I have; but they are all gone now.” Frequently during 
her intervals of consciousness she would say: “I am very 
near Heaven—I’m almost there—take me, Jesus—take me— 
take me!” Then as her mind wandered back probably to the 
field of duty which she was about leaving, she would exclaim: 
“Why don’t I speak—why don’t I speak,” which she con- 
tinued to repeat until her voice died in silence, and shie fell 
asleep in Jesus. ; 

That voice is hushed; but that life still speaks. That 
voice is hushed ; but the memory of that dying bed is vocal 
with the words of comfort and cheer to the hearts of bereaved 
husband, father and brothers; and around that green graye, 
where sleep the remains of mother and daughter, there still 


lingers the Saviour’s voice, ‘I am the resurrection and the 
life.” 


34 IN MEMORIAM 


WILLIAM CLARK KIRKLAND, 





BY WARREN DUPRE. 


William Clark Kirkland, son of the late Rey. William C. 
Kirkland, of the South Carolina Conference, and Virginia L., 
his wife, was born in Beaufort, South Carolina, September 
16, 1846, and died in Spartanburg, January 26, 1875. 

He was brought up by his pious parents in the nurture and 
admonition of the Lord. His early training, under the bless- 
ing of God, made him conscientious and truthful; so that his 
word could always be depended upon, and in the moral con- 
flicts of youthful life he always appealed to the bar of his 
conscience. Naturally amiable and affectionate, the influence 
of home was effectual in producing a cheerful obedience 
to parental authority, and considerate attention to the 
claims of brothers and sisters, and in restraining him from 
indulging in many of the vices and follies of youth. It is 
reasonable to suppose that a youth so constituted and trained 
would not long postpone a serious consideration of the great 
problem of life, and the important interests of eternity. 
Without any particular exciting cause, «he calmly made up 
his mind to consecrate himself to God, and early in 1868 econ- 
nected himself with the Methodist Episcopal Chureh, South, 
at Spartanburg, and soon after received a clear evidence of his 
acceptance. This prepared him for the great trials and suffer- 
ings through which he was soon called to pass. 

Although exempted by law from military service, he felt it 
to be his duty to support his beloved South in her late con- 
flict with her enemies. Early in 1864 he entered General 
Morgan’s command as a volunteer, was soon after captured at 
Cynthiana, Kentucky, confined in prison for nearly a year at 
Rock Island, Illinois, and was exchanged a few weeks before 
the surrender of General Lee. The corrupting influences to 
which he was exposed during his imprisonment were a severe 


WILLIAM CLARK KIRKLAND. 35 


. test of character. But he maintained his Christian integrity 


through them all. The physical and mental suffering conse- 
quent upon his long confinement during one of the severest 
winters of that frigid climate, he bore with the fortitude of a 
Christian and patriot. After his return he entered Wofford 
College, and graduated with distinction in the class of 1868. 
His punctuality and diligence made him a successful student. 
His pious example and amiable qualities gained him the 
confidence and afiection of the faculty and students. De- 
sirous of being useful, and feeling the importance of commit- 
ting himself to some active religious work, he prevailed upon 
one of his associates to unite with him in organizing a Sun- 
day school at Bell’s mill, in the vicinity of the college, which 
they kept up with some regularity during their collegiate 
course, 

Thus prepared for the arduous duties of a professional 
teacher, he went to Georgia soon after graduation, to assist the 
Rev. John Robeson in the Cartecay Academy, Gilmore Coun- 
ty. In January, 1869, he married the only daughter of the 
Rev. J. 8S. Burnett, now of the Holston Conference. Her in- 


tellectual endowments and mature piety made her a fit com- 


panion for one who had consecrated himself to the cause of 
Christian education. With her assistance, he organized a 
Sunday school in Cartecay, of which he was made superin- 
tendent, and introduced singing as a prominent part of the 
exercises. Its influence was felt and recognized by the whole 
community, and one venerable matron was so much delighted 
with the sweet voice of the children that she declared, “it was 
worth all of Mr. Kirkland’s salary just to teach the children 
to sing; that it humanized the children, and humanized: the 
homes of their parents.” 

In the midst of their usefulness his beloved wife, whose 
fragrant piety was so attractive to the young, was taken from 
him, leaving him a precious infant, little Charlie, the last 


‘tribute of her love. This mysterious providence some of his 


friends hoped would lead him to the pulpit, for which his 
talents and piety so well qualified him. But God’s appoint- 
ments, as well as His ways, are not like ours. Some months 
afterwards, when informed that a younger brother was 





36 IN MEMORIAM 


called to the ministry, he replied, “I have often coveted this 
honor, but am glad to be permitted to labor for the Master in 
the humblest sphere.” ; 
* Bowed down with sorrow, he could not endure the scenes 
around him, calling up daily the specters of his lost joys 
and love. By the advice of friends, he removed to North 
Carolina in 1870, and took charge of the Waynesville Acad- 
emy in Haywood County. He was soon afterwards elected by 
the Board of Trustees principal of the Reidville Male High 
School, in Spartanburg County, South Carolina. This was a 
high compliment to so young a teacher, as it was an institu- 
tion of long standing and some note, under the patronage of 
the South Carolina Presbytery. He soon gained the confi- 
dence of his patrons and the community ; and as a tribute to 
his zeal and catholie spirit, he was unanimously appoint 
superintendent of their Sunday school, although it was com- 
posed of children whose parents were chiefly members of the 
Presbyterian church. His suecess in managing this enter- 
prise induced the congregation at Sharon church, two miles 
distant, to request his acceptance of the superintendency of 
their Sunday school also, which met every Sunday afternoon. 
These excessive labors and exposure to inclement weather in 
walking out to fill this latter engagement brought on an attack 
of typhoid pneumonia, which developed the seeds of that in- 
sidious disease that had been sown in his system by the hard- 
ships of his prison-life. Loth to leave his work and the field 
of his usefulness, he continued to labor on in feebleness until 
failing health compelled him to resign his position at Reid- 
ville in 1873, and to retire to the home of his widowed mother 
near Spartanburg Court House. Here began the rapid 
growth and ripening of those Christian virtues and graces 
which useful labors of his active life had developed and 
trained. During these long and trying months of pain and 
weariness he never murmured or complained, but bore his 
sufferings with a sweet spirit of resignation to the Divine will. 
Totally unselfish and careful only for the comfort of others, 
his great anxiety was that he was giving trouble to his affee- 
tionate mother and devoted sisters and brothers, who watched 
and ministered at his bedside. 


WILLIAM CLARK KIRKLAND. 37 


He believed in the power of prayer, and often communed 
with his Heavenly Father. With a soul attuned to the inspi- 
ration of music, he often asked his brothers and sisters to 
sing those sacred songs that made melody in his heart to the 
Lord. He often expressed a desire to be gone and be at rest. 
When asked about his spiritual condition he invariably re- 
plied: “I have no fears about my future state—my only 
dread is the final struggle, the suffocation with which my dis- 
ease usually terminates.” A short while before he died, after 
a severe paroxysm of coughing, he lifted his eyes and hands 
to Heaven, and with feeble voice whispered a prayer that 
God would have mercy on him and spare him the pangs of 
the final struggle, and closed with—‘tnot my will but thine.” 
That prayer was answered, and his happy spirit left its clay 
tenement without a struggle or a groan. O, what a flood of 
joy must have rushed over his soul as the released spirit 
bounded from that bed of intense suffering into the unuttera- 
ble felicities of the upper world. 

Such is only an imperfect record of the labors of a short, but 
useful life. which friendship offers as a tribute to the memory 
of W. C. Kirkland. May the pious example and wise 
counsels of a dying father guide little Charlie safely amid the 
temptations and trials of life, and lead him finally to the 
Christ and the home of his sainted mother. 




















